Father of Mine
by Ashana
Summary: Belle has died. The Beast is alone. The curse is once more upon the castle. The Beast has sworn never to love anyone as he did Belle. Little does he know that there is more than one way to love a person.


**Father of Mine**

**Prologue: Once Upon A Time...**

A long time ago, before he had left to visit his grandparents in Paris, Beast's father had told him something important. He had sat the young boy on the rug of the sitting room and lit the fireplace, then shooed away the maids and butlers and simply talked. Most of the lessons of time had faded away, except for one.

"Now Bernard (for that was the Beasts true name, though he hated it), listen to me, and listen hard. The love of a good woman can change a man, completely turn him around; but it can also complete him." Father laid a hand over his breast, where his heart lay beating scant inches beneath it. "The love of a good woman is what every man in this world searches for, and someday you will find yours." He patted his sons cheek. "Remember that, boy, and you'll go far in life. Maybe someday you will sit on this rug and tell your own son about life beyond toys and books."

They had laughed, and then wrestled, and then Father had left with mother and a host of others for Paris. They had gotten halfway there when the brigands attacked, and stole them blind before brutally beating the entire traveling party to death. Bernard had learned the next day, and had been appointed master of the castle with the guide of a steward named Cogsworth. That was the last day Bernard smiled, and he forgot what his father had told him about love, and life, and happiness, and locked himself away in his castle. He turned away an old woman who looked so much like his grandmother, and was cursed for it. What few servants remained became his only friends, and he even shied away from them.

Then Maurice had come, and Belle had followed after. Several months had passed, and the Beast had found the ice around his heart slowly melting. Belle broke the curse and they were married; the castle was returned to it's former splendor and for the first time in nearly fifteen years, Beast allowed himself to enter the study where he and his father had last sat, and look at the grate across the fireplace and remember. Belle had found him there, up in the West Wing, alone in the dark and silence. She sat beside him and took his hand, and they had talked, just like he had done with his father, about anything and everything. But mostly about how the love of a good woman could change a man.

But now Belle was dead too.

They had gone down to Italy to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary, and had spent days in a seaside villa near Rome. By the time they had traveled back to France through the rain and snow of late Fall, she had fallen ill. The castles doctor, Arline, had told him in was influenza. They had tried everything, but eventually she had faded and left them. The castle grew dark and quiet. Maurice moved back into his home in the small village a days journey away. He returned only to join the funeral as Belle was buried behind the castle, in the small family cemetery that also held Beast's parents. Then he had asked Beast to leave him be, and left. A week later, he was informed by Arline that Maurice had burned down his house and left the village for good.

It continued like that; servants left, no longer feeling the cheer that had once echoed through the halls of the castle. The cooks quite because Beast refused to eat their food. The gardeners left after seeing their rose bushes torn to shreds. All too soon he was left with only the barest of staff, and the best of friends. The Rose, which had been planted in the garden but never bloomed, finally opened it's petals, and the sorceresses curse began anew. Beast locked himself away in the West Wing with only his memories to keep him company, and the rest of the castle despaired as they watched him waste away and pine for his beloved wife. It seemed that nothing would deter him from dying.

Then, one dark winters eve, the gates to the castle squeaked open and a small toe headed figure struggled through the snow towards the only inviting light she could see for miles around...

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><p>A rewrite of my original idea. Hope ya'll like! If you want to see more, please review!<p> 


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